Femgineer Spotlight: Ginger Folker, Software Developer at Accenture

By Frances Advincula

This week’s Femgineer has a very special place in my heart. Ever since the first day of my internship, she has always been warm and welcoming. I know it’s silly, but her being in my first few code reviews really helped not be so scared. Sometimes, we go out to lunch too. I know that seems trivial, but it’s just nice to be able to talk to a fellow Femgineer about insecurities that I face as a newbie full-timer. It’s nice to know that everyone, even the great ones, had to start somewhere. Anyway, she has really great advice on how humility makes a good software engineer even greater.

Fellow techies, meet Ginger Folker.

How do you keep up with tech trends?

Mainly by keeping my eyes and ears open. Hearing what other people have seen and researching. There’s so much stuff on the web you can get lost in it! I love going to book stores, so any time I get the chance, I go scour the shelves for any new information.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone told you when you were starting?

That you will never be the best. One thing about programming is that it is always growing and moving. It is truly a moving target. Once you think you have figured something out there is always something new to learn. It is a job of continual education and growth. That is one thing that is so great and also so challenging about it. You have to be a motivated and truly inquisitive person to continue being good at what you do.

What do you think makes a good software engineer?

I think the biggest things for me is taking pride in and loving what you do. If you don’t love and enjoy what you do then you aren’t going to write good code. You have to care.

I also think it takes humility. When you hear the term programmer that is probably not what you think of. But I think it should be. Humility allows you to be open to the idea that your way may not be the best way and this in turn helps you to grow and learn. You have to have an open mind and the ability to be able to look at things in a variety of ways.